Thaw hopefully set in now. Had some sunshine in the afternoon, so set off for Stocks Reservoir. Beautiful views though the roads a bit difficult in places. Photographed a Kestrel and watched a Buzzard circling over trees near Slaidburn. Got to Stocks and bitterly cold in the wind. The reservoir was all iced over. Retreated to Hark to Bounty.

Monday 11th January

Sleet falling and a bit of a thaw setting in hopefully. Long Tailed Tits are becoming regular visitors to the feeders. Still got Blue Tit with withered leg visiting and now also one with only one leg. On Autumnwatch they said that using fat balls in nets could cause injuries and I wonder if this is whats happened. Putting out fat balls netless in feeders or using the square ones you can put in wire cages. Also had a go at making my own with ground up peanuts and suet, and leaving to set in old foil take away trays. When set I break it in half and put on the bird table or in the feeder. Robins and Woodpecker love it.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

5/01/10

Happy New Year!
What an amazing sight to wake up to this morning. We have had about 6 inches of snow overnight in Gisburn, and its a bit of a shock after the lovely sunny day we had yesterday. The village children are making the most of it, sledging in the fields. Feel sorry for the birds, they are being a lot tamer and coming into the garden to use the feeders so it must be hard for them to find food. We get lots of Blue Tits, some Great Tits and some Coal Tits, a few Chaffinches, Sparrows and Starlings. We have at least three Robins, who all battle although at least two seem to be almost tolerating each other so maybe they are forming a pair. We have a pair of Blackbirds at the front of the house and one pair at the back. They seem to spend a lot of their time trying to chase other birds of all species away ( includung a Woodpecker ). We have had a Blue Tit with a withered leg coming to the feeders since before Christmas, so we are pretty impressed with his resilience. He also looks quite big and is aggressive to other Tits, spreading his wings out and raising the feathers on the back of his head and if they don't get the message attacking them.

Blue Tit with withered leg Jackdaw with rockcake

Lots of Owls

Been a good week for seeing owls. On Saturday as we drove through Holden Clough we saw a Little Owl sat on the wall by the road. Damp, mizzly weather so perfect for it to catch earthworms. On Monday as we arrived at Bank House Fly Fishery we were greeted by a cacophony of Blackbird alarm calls and suddenly a Tawny Owl broke out of the trees in front of us, persued by at least half a dozen blackbirds. They followed it into the copse opposite the house where they were joined by more blackbirds, blue tits and great tits, the noise was amazing. Eventually the tawny had enough and took off over the fields. On Saturday we also watched a hare in Anne Gardners garden up at Bleasdale cottages. It sat there for a while at the base of her hedge before ambling into the field, where I photographed it hiding. We also surprised a Buzzard which had just made a kill in the field near the hide as we drove up, took off carrying something dark with a tail! Looked huge so close, beautiful in the sunshine.


Little Owl near Holden Clough Nursery

Tawny Owl at Bank House Fly Fishery

Hare hiding in grass at Bleasdale

Pumpkin

This is the first year I've tried to grow Pumpkins, lots of fruits but only one got big and matured. Very proud but Bramble unimpressed.

Autumn

Had a walk around Gisburn Park. Sweet Chestnuts covered with spiky husked fruits. Hornbeams look very elegant and attractive with their bright yellow foliage and long drooping clusters of nuts in their leafy bracts. Have yet to find any acorns on any oak trees though I've found plenty of marble galls and artichoke galls. Horse Chestnuts seem to have less conkers too. Seems a good year for berries though, the Hollies and Rowans are covered with them. Hawthorn has done well too though not as well as last year when they were spectacular. Jays and Grey Squirrels are easier to spot now as they are so busy making their winter stockpiles. Still got wasps flying around and plenty of spiders are getting into the house. Bramble my pet ferret has developed an unfortunate partiality to House Spiders. There was a full moon on Sunday, so bright it was hard to sleep, lovely to go out walking in. The birds are starting to come back into the garden to feed, really pleased to see a little Wren bobbing around. Found a Woodlouse in my compost bin moulting its old skin, really surprised as didn't think they lived long enough to need to do that.

Mature Marble Galls

Young Marble Galls


Mature Artichoke Galls

Young Artichoke Gall

Hornbeam Nuts

Saturday 13/06/09



Fantastic sunny day with a lovely light breeze, perfect for insect hunting (photos only) up at beautiful Stocks Reservoir. Lots of patches of nettles, wildflowers and thistles and marshy areas. Settled on nettle leaves or flying weakly about there were several damselflies, these looked stunning when took off as their wings glittered in the sunlight like they'd been spun out of delicate silver thread. I think one was definitely the Large Red Damselfly and the other I photo'd was possibly the Blue Tailed Damselfly.






Quite excited as there seemed to be quite a few Grasshoppers around, not confident as to their identity though. Also found a lovely little spider in a curled over nettle leaf, probablyAraniella cucurbitina, gorgeous colours.





In nettles next to the cafe found the Sawfly Rhogogaster viridis, highly decorative colours, blown over the water I can't imagine any Trout would miss that, I always thought Fishing Flies looked really garish now I know why. Down by the water amongst the wildflowers found an incredibly delicate looking Lacewing, probably Chrysopa perla bluey-green with black markings down the centre of its body. Also looked slightly sinister I have to say and after reading how their larva suck all the juices out of aphids and then sometimes decorate themselves with the shrivelled corpses I think I was probably right, still stunning though.

My Wildlife Art website www.elizabeth-mills.co.uk